# Silverware: up or down in the dishwasher?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silverware-up-or-down-in-the-dishwasher/137706>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 20, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silverware-up-or-down-in-the-dishwasher/137706 "2002-11-20T05:52:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Kimmom2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Kimmom2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmom2)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silverware-up-or-down-in-the-dishwasher/137706/21 "2002-11-21T20:47:54Z")

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I put everything in handles up because they would fall through the other way!

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**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silverware-up-or-down-in-the-dishwasher/137706/22 "2002-11-22T06:52:34Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Flashpaper Tiger \*  
> \*\*I always thought the point of loading things handle side up is so, when your putting the cleaned utensils away, your grubby fingers don’t touch the end that will eventually go into someone’s mouth at dinner. \*\*

That the way we do it and the reason why, too. If you’re going to immediately dirty them by touching the parts that go in your mouth, it’s a waste of effort to put them in the dishwasher rather than wash them in the sink.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silverware-up-or-down-in-the-dishwasher/137706/23 "2002-11-24T20:28:32Z")

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Question for you “Handles up for sanitation” folks: How do you get your plates out of the dishwasher?

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**Author:** ![Witch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Witch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Witch)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silverware-up-or-down-in-the-dishwasher/137706/24 "2002-11-24T21:57:58Z")

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Spoons handles down, forks and knives handles up. I’m a klutz and if I did it otherwise I’d skewer myself. Badly.

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**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silverware-up-or-down-in-the-dishwasher/137706/25 "2002-11-24T22:13:28Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ftg \*  
> \*\*Question for you “Handles up for sanitation” folks: How do you get your plates out of the dishwasher? \*\*

You pull them out by the outer rim, which never has food on it anyway. I suppose it would be a problem if you had plates that are perfectly flat, but they don’t seem to make too many of them.

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